





ANSON BURLINGAME. 


THE DEFENCE OF MASSACHUSETTS 









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r SPEECH Ol HON. ANSON BURLINGAME, - : 





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OF MASSACHUSETTS, 


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 


JUNE 


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The House being in the Committee of the wee on me 8 
state of the Union, ’ 

Mr. BURLINGAME said: 

Mr. Cuatrman: The House will bear witness 


that I have not pressed myself upon its deliber- 


i? 


ations. Inever before asked its indulgence. I 
_ have assailed no man; nor have I iiseen to 
bring reproach upon any man’s State. ’ 
while such has been my course, as well as he 
course of colleagues from Massachusetts, 
upon this fldor, certain members have seen fit 
to assail the State which we represent, not only 
with words, but with blows. 

In remembrance of these things, and seizing 
the first opportunity which has presented itself 
for a long tine, I stand here to-day to say a 


word for old Massachusetts—not that she needs 


it; no, sir; for in all that constitutes true great- 
ness—in all that gives abiding strength—in 


‘great qualities of head and heart—in moral 


power—in material prosperity—in intellectual 
resources and physical ability—by the general 


ee mankind, according to her popu- 


ation, she is the first State. There does not 
live the man anywhere, who knows anything, 
to whom praise of Massachusetts would not be 
needless. She is as far beyond that as she is 
beyond censure. Members here may sneer at 
her—they may praise her past at the expense 
of her present; but I say, with a full convic- 


tion of its truth, that Massachusetts, in her 
“present performances, is even greater than in 


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her past recollections. And when I have said 
_ this, what more can I say? 

‘Sir, although I am here as her youngest and 
humblest member, yet, as her Representative, I 
feel that I am the peer of any man upon this 
floor. Occupying that high stand-point, with 
~ modesty, but with firmness, I casi: down her 
_ glove to the whole band of her assailants. 

She has been assailed i in the House and out 


of the Hove” » ther end of the Capitol, 
and at * 1e.. There 

have * sharges 

— ~ “tna 


gific charges. I am sorry to find at the 
head of the list of hé? Assatlants the President 
of the United States, who not only assails Mas- 
sachusetts, but the whole North. He defends 
one section of the Union at the expense of the 
other. He declares that one section has ever 
been mindful of its constitutional obligations, 
and that the other has not. He declares that, 
if one section of our country were a foreign 
country, the other would have just cause of war 
against it. And to sustain these remarkable 
declarations, he goes into an elaborate perver- 
sion of history, such as that Virginia ceded her 
lands against the interests of the South, for the 
benefit of the North; when the truth is, she 
ceded her lands, as New York and other States 
did, for the benefit of the whole country. She 
gave her lands to Freedom, because she thought 
Freedom was better than Slavery—because it 
was the policy of the times, and events have 
vindicated that policy. ‘ 

It is a perversion of history, when he says 
that the territory of the country has been ac- 
quired more for the benefit of the North than 
for the South; he says that substantially. Sir, 
out of the territory thus acquired, five slave 
States, with a pledge for four more, and two 
free States, have come into the Union; *and 
one of these, as we all know, fought its way 
through a compromise degrading to the North. 

The North does not object to the acquisition=- 


of territory, when it is desired, but she desires» 


that it shall be free. Ifsucha ‘complexion had 


been given to it, how different would have been . 


the fortunes of the Republic to-day! 
be ascertained by comparing the pro 
Ohio with that of any slave State in the, Missis- 
sippi.valley. It will appear more clearly. by? 
comparing the free with the slavewregions. * ns 
have not time to do more than to pregent a 
general picture. 

Freedom and Slavery started together in the 
great race on this continent. In the very year 


This.may 


the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock, 


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tress of ik 


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d D rirginia. _ Freedom has gone 
trampling down barbarism, and planting 
tates—building the symbols of its faith by 









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| of the Pilgrims stand by the shores of the Pa- 


the setting sun. It has reached the Rio Grande 
on the South; and the groans of its victims, 
and the clank of its chains, may be heard as it 
slowly ascends the Western tributaries of the 
Misgissippi river. Freedom has left the land 


whole heavens with the shining towers of re- 
.igion and civilization. Slavery has lefi deso- 
lation, ignorance, and death, in its path. When 
we look at these things; when we see what the 
country would have been, had Freedom been 
_ given to the Territories; when we think what 
it would have been but for this blight in the 
bosom of the country; that the whole South— 
that fair land God has blessed so much—would 


have been covered with cities, and “VWlages, 


and railroads, and that in the country, in the 
place of twenty-five millions of people, thirty- 
five millions would have hailed the rising morn 
_ -exulting in republican liberty—when we think 
* of these things, how must every honest man— 
_ how must every man with brains in his head, 
or heart in his bosom—regret that the policy 
of old Virginia, in her better days, did not be- 
come the animating policy of this expanding 
Republic! 
It is a perversion of history, I say, when the 
President intimates that the adoption of the 
Constitution abrogated the Ordinance of 1787. 
_ it was recognised by the first Congress which 
_ assembled under the Constitution; and it has 
been sanctioned by nearly every President, from 
Washington down. Itis a peryersion of his- 
tory when the President intimates that the Mis- 
souri Compromise was made against the inter- 
ests of the South, and for the benefit of the 
North. The iruth—the unmistakable truth. is, 
that it was forced by the South on the North. 
It received the almost united vote of the South. 
It was claimed as @ victory of the South. The 
men who voted for it were sustained in the 
South ; and those who voted for it in the North 
passed into oblivion; and though some of them 
are physically alive to-day, they are as politi- 
cally dead as are the President and his imme- 
diate advisers. Not only has the President per- 
verted history, but. he has turned sectionalist. 
He has become the champion of sectionalism. 
He makes the extraordinary declaration, that 
if a State is refused admission into the Union 
‘because her Constitution embraced Slavery as 
_ an institution, then one section of the country 
would of necessity be compelled to dissolve its 
‘connection with the people of the other section! 
What does he mean? Does he mean to say that 
‘there are traitors in the South? Does he mean 
‘to say, if they were voted down, that then they 
ought not to submit? If he does, and if they 
~~7em" to back him in the declaration, then 7 


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~ every lake, and every river, until now the sons}and again, that if the Fugitive Slave Law 


 eific. Slavery has also made jits way toward 


bespangled with free schools, and filled the 
| 
| 
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‘amendment'to the Constitution provides that ‘the powers 














say the quicker we try the stren gt 
Government the better. Not only has | 
that, but members have said on this floor, 






which has nothing sacred about it—which a 
deem unconstitutional—which South Carolina — 
deems unconstitutional—if that law be repeal- 
ed, that this Union will then cease to exist. 
Mr. KEITT. I wish to know from the gen- — 
tleman from Massachusetts, by what authority 4 
he says South Carolina holdsthe FugitiveSlave 
Law to be unconstitutional? % Be 
Mr. BURLINGAME. By theanthority ofthe 
Charleston Mercury. , es 
Taking that paper from his pocket, Mr. B. 
read the following: 














































“Of the action of Massachusetts in the abrogation of the 
Fugitive Slave Law, we have no ¢omplaint tomake. It 
was from the first a miserable illusion; and worse, in faet, 
for it was an infringement upon one of the most cherished 
principles of the Constitution which provides that fugi= — 
tives from labor, ‘upon demand, shal! be delivered up, but 


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gives no poyver to Congress to act in this affair. The tenth a 


not delegated to the United States are reserved to the 
States or to the people.” The clause aboye confers no 
power, but is the naked declaration of a right; and the” 
power, not being conferred, results to the States as one of a 
the incidents of sovereignty too dear to be irusted to the © 
General Government. 

“Our Southern members strove for the passage of the 
law, and strove honestly; but it shows the evils of our ; 
unfortunate condition, that, in the urgency of our contest 
with an aggressive adversary, we lose the landmarks of 
principle—to obtain an illusive triumph, we pressed the 
Government to assume a power not confeé@red by the in- 
strument of its creation, and to establish a precedent by. 
which, in all after time, it will be authorized to assume 
whatever right may have no constitutional right of en- Dé 
forcement; and, wearied with so many efforts to confine 
the Government to its limits of legitimate powers, we are 
pleased to have assistance from another guarter; and if 
the question shall be determined in her #iyor, we will sin- 
cerely rejoice in such a vindication of thé Constitution.” 

That is my authority, but I do not wish to be’ 
interrupted; I have not time. I say that it is 
not for the President and members onthis floor — 
to determine the life of this Union; this Union 
rests inthe hearts of the American people,and 
cannot be eradicated thence. Whenever any 
person shall lft his hand to smite down this 
Union, the people will subjugate him to Liberty 
and the Constitution. I do not wish to dwell 
on the President, and what he has said. Not- — 
withstanding all this perversion of history— 
notwithstanding his violated pledges—and_ not- 
withstanding his warlike exploits at Greytown 
and Lawrence—his servility has been repaid 
with scorn, Jam glad of it. The South was 
right. When a man is false to the convictions 
of his own heart and to Freedom, he cannot be 
trusted with the delicate interests of Slavery. 1 
cannot express the delight I feel in the poetic — 
justice that has been done; but, at the sam 
time, lam not unmindful of the deep ingra 
tude that first lured him to ruin, and thende- 
serted and left him alone to die. [Applause.] 
If I were not too. much of » “" “*~a American, 
Iwould qv~’ a i 
words. * 
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ring Fronts he let fall upon us ioe other night, 
en he went through the ordeal of ratifying 
the nomination of James Buchanan. He said 
that we had received nothing at the hands of 
_ the Government, save its protection and its po- 
litical blessings. We have not certainly re- 
eas teen offices; and as for its protection 
and political blessings, let the silence above the 
graves of those who sleep in their bloody shrouds 
in Kansas answer. 

There have been general and specific charges 
made against old Massachusetts. The general 
charge, “when expressed in polite language, is, 
_ that she has not been faithful to her constitu- 
tional obligations. I deny it. I call for proof. 
Task when? where? how? I say, on the contra- 
ry, that from the time when this Government came 
from the brains 6f her statesmen, and the un- 
- conquerable arms of her warriors, she has been 
loyal to it. In peace, she kas added to it re- 
nown; and in war, her sons have crowded the 
way to death as to a festival. She has quench- 
ed the fires of rebellion on her own soil without 
Federal aid; and when the banners of nullifica- 
tion flew in the Southern sky, speaking through 
the lips of Webster, in Faneuil Hal!, she 
stood by Jackson and the Union. No man 
Speaking in her name—no man wearing her 
ermine, or clothed with her authority—ever did 
anything, or said anything, or decided anything, 
not in accordance with her constitutional obli-. 
gations. Yet, sir, the hand of the Federal Gov- 
ernment has been laid heavily upon her. 

That malignant spirit which has usurped this 
- Government, through the negligence of the peo- 


ple, too long has pursued her with rancor and 
«- bitterness. Before its invidious legislation she 
% has seen her commerce perish, and ruin, like a 


devastating fire, sweep through her fields of indus- 
try; but, amid all these things, Massachusetts 
has always lifted up her voice with unmurmur: 
- ing devotion to the Union. She has heard the 
Federal drum in her streets. She has protect- 
Se "y ed the person of that most odious man—odious 
“= ‘both at the North and the South—the slave- 
. hunter. She has protected him when her soil 
_ throbbed with indignation from the sea to the 
i New York line. Sir, the temples of justice there 
have been clothed in chains. The Federal 
34 courts in other States have been closed against 
_ her, and her citizens have been imprisoned, and 
_ she has had no redress. 
__. ¥Xet,*notwithstanding all these things, Massa- 
chusetts has always been faithful and loyal to 
_ the Constitution You may ask why, if she has 
been so wronged, so insulted, has she been so 
true and faithful, to the Union? Sir, because 
_ she knew, i in her clear head, that these outrages 
came not from the generous ‘hearta of the Amer- 
ican people. She knew that, when Justice should 
finally assume the reins ‘of Government, all 
would be well, She knew that, when the Gov- 
ernment ceased to foster the interests of Slavery 
one, her pari would be rete bie and i 


oe) 


made her look out of the gloom-of the presen 
and anticipate a glorious future. 


__plibTANwS 








stitutional hope that nad a waved f 
head and heart of Massachusetts, and which b 


So much in 
relation to the general charge against Massa-— ae 
chusetts. ee 
There are specific charges, upon which I shall 
dwell fora moment, One is, that she has or- 
ganized an “ Emigrant Aid Society.” Did you 
not tell Massachusetts that the people of Kan- 
gas were to be left perfectly free to mould her 
institutions as they thought best? She knew, — 
and she told you, that your doctrine of squat- 
ter sovereignty wasa delusion and a snare. She | 
opposed it as long as she could here; and when 
she could do it no longer, she accepted the bat- 
tle upon your pledge of fair play. She deter- 
mined to make Kansas a free State. In this 
high motive the Emigrant Aid Society had its 
origin. Its objects are two-fold—Freedom for 
Kansas and pecuniary reward. And it is so or- 
ganized that pecuniary benefit cannot flow to 
stockholders, except through the prosperity of 
those whom it aids. The idea of the society is 
this: to take capital and place it in advance of 
civilization; to take the elements of civilization, 
the saw-mill, the church, the school-house, and 
plant them in the wilderness, as an inducement 
tothe emigrant. It is a peaceful society. It 
has never armed one man; it has never paid 
one man’s passage to Kansas. It never asked— 
though I think it should. have asked—the polit- 
ical sentinents of any man whom it has assist- 
ed to emigrate to Kansas. It has invested 
$100,000, and it has conducted from Massachu- 
setts to Kansas from twelve to fifteen hundred 
of the flower of her people. Such is the Emi- 
grant Aid Society, such is its origin, and such 
its action. It is this Society, so just and legal 
in its origin and its action, that has been made 
the pretext for the mest bitter assaults upon 
Massachusetts. Sir, it is Christianity organized. 
How have these legal and these proper meas- 
ures been met by those who propose to make 
Kansas a slave State? The people of Massa- 
chusetts would not complain, if the people who 
differ from them should go there to seek a 
peaceful solution of the conflicting questions. 
But how have they been met? By frand and 
violence, by sackings, and burnings, and mur- 
ders. Laws have been forced upon them, such 
ag you have heard read to-day by the centile: 
man from Indiana, [Mr. Corax,] so atrocious 
that no man has risen here to defend one single 
one of them. Men have been placed over them © 
whom they never elected, and this day, as has 
been stated by the gentleman from Indiana, 
civil war rages from one end of Kansas to the 
other. Men have been compelled to leave their 
peaceful pursuits, and starvation and death 
stare them in the face, and yet the Government 
stands idle—no, not idle; it gives its mighty 


arm to the side of the men who are trampling 


down law and order there. The United States 
- troops have not been permitted to protect the 
Mee ‘ a i. hea 1, a 
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= Sie men. a When they have desired to 


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iy they haye been withdrawn. I cannot 
a : ee Ato a detail of all the facts. Itis a fact 


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that war rages there to-dey. Men kill each 
oth er at sight. All these things are known, 
and nobody can deny them. All the Western 
- winds are burdened with the news of them, 
and they are substantiated equally by both 
sides. 

Has the Government no power to make 
peace in Kansas, and to protect citizens there 
under the organic law of the Territory? I ask, 
in the name of old Massachusetts, if our honest 
citizens who went to Kansas to build up homes 
for themselves, and to secure the blessings of 
civilization, are not entitled to protection? 
She throws the responsibility upon this Admin- 
istration, and holds it accountable; and so will 
the people, at the pells, next November. 

Another charge is, that Massachusetts has 
passed a ‘personal liberty bill. Well, sir, I say 
that Massachusetts, for her local legislation, i is 
not responsible to this House, or to any mem- 
ber of it. I say, sir, if her laws were as bad as 
those atrocious laws of Kansas, you can do 
nothing with her. I say, if her statute-books, 
instead of being filled with generous legisla- 
tion—legislation which ought to be interesting 
to her assailants, because it is in favor of the 
idiotic and the blind—[laughter |—were filled, 
like those of the State of Alabama, with laws 
covering the State with whipping-posts, keep- 
ing half of her people in absolute slavery, and 
nearly all of the other half in subjection to 
twenty-nine thousand slaveholders; if the slave- 
holders themselves were not permitted to trade 
with or teach their slaves, as they choose ; if 
ignorance were increasing faster than the pop- 
ulation—I say, even then, you could not do 
anything here with the local laws of Massa- 
chusetts. I say, the presumption is, that the 
law, having been passed by a sovereign State, 
is constitutional. If it is not constitutional, 
then, sir, when the proper tribunal shall have 
decided that question, what is there, I ask, in 
the history of Massachusetts, which will lead us 
to believe that she will not abide by that result? 
I say, there is nothing in the history of the State 
of Mississippi, or of South Carolina, early or 
recent, which makes Massachusetts desirous of 
emulating their example. I, sir, agree with 
the South Carolina authority I have quoted 
here in regard to the legislation of Massachu- 
setts. 

Sir, my time is passing away, and I must has- 
ten on. The State of Massachusetts is the 
guardian of the rights of her citizens, and of the 
inhabitants within her border line, If her cit- 
izens go beyond the line, into distant lands or 
upon the ocean, then they look to the Federal 
arm for protection. But old Massachusetts is 
the State which is to secure to her citizens the 
inestimable blessing of trial by jury and the 
writ of habeas corpus. All+these things must 


ws 


come from her, and not from the Federal Gov- | 








ernment. I believe, with her great statesmen 
and with her people, that the Fugitive Slave 
Law is unconstitutional. Mr. Webster, as an 
original question, thought it was not constitu- 
tional; Mr. Rantoul, a brilliant, statesman of — 
Massachusetts, said the same thing; they both | 


thought that the clause of the Constitution was — 


addressed to the States. Mr. Webster bowed 
to the decision of the Supreme Court in the 
Prigg case; Mr. Rantoul did not. Massachu- 
setts believes it to be ungonstitutional ; but 
whether it be constitutional or not, she means, 
so long as the Federal Government undertakes 
to execute that law, that the Federal Goy- 
ernment shall do it with its own instruments, 
vile or otherwise. She says that 7 one 
clothed with her authority shall do anything 
to help in it, so long as the Federal Government 
undertakes to do it. But, sir, I pass from this. 

_ I did intend to reply seriagim to all the attacks 
Wich have been made upon the State, but I 
have not half time enough. The gentleman 
from Mississippi, [Mr. Bennerrt,] after enumer- 
ating a great many things he desired Massa- 
chusetts to do, said, amongst other things, that 
she must tear out of her statute-book this _per- 
sonal liberty law. When she had done that, 
and a variety of other things too numerous to 
mention, then he said “the South would forgive 
Massachusetts.” The South forgive Massachu- 
setts! Sir, forgivettess is an attribute of Di- 
vinity. The. South has it not. Sir, forgive 
ness is a higher quality than justice, even. The — 
South—I mean the Slave Power—cannot com- — 
prebend it. Sir, Massachusetts has already for- 
given the South too many debts and too many 
insults, If we should do all the things the gen- 
tleman from Mississippi desired us to do, then - 
the gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Seon 
comes in, and insists that Massachusetts sha 
do a great variety of other things before the © 
South probably will forgive her. “Among other © 
things, he desired that Massachusetts should — 
blot ont the fact that General Hull, who surren- 
dered Detroit, had his home in Massachusetts. 
Why, no, sir; she does not desire eyen to do 
that, for then she would have to blot out the fact — 
that his gallant son had his home there—that 
gallant son who fell fighting for his country, in 
the same war, at Lundy’s Lane—that great bat- 
tle, where Colonel Miller, a Massachusetts man 
by adoption, when asked if he could storm cer- 
tain heights, replied, in a modest Massachusetts — 
manner, “I will try, sir.’ e ne the 
heights. ty 

The gentleman desires, tee that we ett 
blot out the history of the connettion of Massa- 
chusetts with the last war. Oh,no! She cannot 
do that. She cannot so dim the lustre of the 7 
American arms. She cannot so wrong the Re- Ye 
public. Where, then, would be your great ii fi 
fights? Where, then,. would be the glory of ae 
“Old Ironsides,” whose scuppers ran red ie oe 
Massachusetts blood? Where, then, would se 
the history of the daring of those brave her. et 

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- take it. He sailed south, where there was an-|, 


“® noses,” and are moving down upon the South 
“like an army with banners.” Frightful—is 


” 
_ then he calls it a 7 izard;” and more, which 
sf } 


~ #en to. mention would be unlawful.” Sir, his 
_thetorie seems to have the St. Vitus’s dance. 


_ and also over some historical mistakes, much of 
«the same nature as those made by the Presi- 


q 


_* ‘dent, which I have already pointed out, antl 
e - é come te some of his sentences, in which terrific 
r AT 


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; ¢ re a mm 
men, who swarmed from all her bays and all her| questions and answers explode. He Soir 
ports, sweeping the enemy’s commerce from| hotly and tauntingly, that the South wants 
the most distant seas? Ah, sir! she cannot] none of our vagabond philanthropy. Sir, when — 
afford to blot out that history. You, sir, cannot| the yellow pestilence fluttered its wings over 
afford to let her do it—no, not even the South.| the Southern States, and when Massachusetts 
She sustained herself in the last war; she,paid} poured out her treasures to a greater extent in 
her own expenses, and has not yet been paid| proportion to her population than any other 
entirely from the Treasury of the nation. The| State, was that vagabond philanthropy? Task 
enemy hovered on her coast with his ships, as} the people of Virginia and Louisiana? ' 
numerous, almost, as the stars. He looked on 
that warlike land, and the memory of the olden 
time came back uponhim. He remembered 
how, more than forty years before, he had trodden 
on that soil; he remembered how vauntingly he 
‘nvaded it, and how speedily he leftit. He turned 
hs glasses towards it, and beheld its people 
rshing from the mountains to the sea to de- 
fad it; and he dared not attack it. Its capi- 
4a stood in the salt sea spray, yet he could no 


But, sir, the gentleman was most tender and 
most plaintive when he described the starving 
operatives. Why, sir, the eloquence was most 
overwhelming upon some of my colleagues. I 
thought I saw the’iron face of our Speaker 
soften a little, when he listened to the unexpect- 
ed sympathy of the gentleman with the hard- 
ships of his early life. Sir, he was an opera- 
tive from boyhood to manhood—and a good 
ne, too. Ah, sir, he did notsappreciate, as he 
| tasted the sweet bread of honest toil, his sad 
condition; he did not think, as he stood in the 
musi¢ of the “machinery which came from his 
cunning hand, how much better it would have 
been for him, had he been born a slave, [laugh- 
ter,| and put under the gentleman from South 
Carolina—a kind master, as I have no doubt,he 
is—where he would have been well fed and 
clothed, and would have known none of the 
trials which doubtless met him on every hand. 
How happy he would have been, if, instead of 
being a Massachusetts “operative, he had been 
a slave in South Carolina, fattening, singing,. 
and dancing, upon the banks of some Southern 
river. [Great laughter. | 








other capital, not far from where we now stand 
forty miles from the sea. A few staggering 
worn-out sailors and soldiers came here. They 
bok it. How it was defended, let the heroes 
& Bladensburg answer! [Laughter.] 

Sir, the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. 
Kerrr] made a speech; and if I may be allow- 
ei to coin a word, I willsay it had more cantan- 
xerosity in it than any speech I ever heard on 
ths floor. [Renewed laughter.] It was) cer- 
tanly very eloquent in some portions—very 
éoquent indeed, for the gentleman has indis- 
pitably an eloquent utterance and an eloquent 
tanperament. I do not wish to criticize it 
much, but it opens in the most extraordinary 
manner with a “weird torchlight,” and then 
he introduces a dead man, and then he galvan- 
es him, and puts him in that chair, and then 
a¢ makes him “point his cold finger” around 
tais Hall. Why, it almost frightens me to al- 
lade to it. And then he turns it into a theatre, 
end then he changes or transmogrifies the 
gentleman from Indiana, [Mr. Cotrax,] who 
has just spoken, into a snake, and makes him 
wriggle up to the foot-lights;”’ and then he 
ives the snake hands, and then “ mailed 
ands,’ and with one of them he throws off 
Juba, and with the other clutches all the Cana- 
das. Then he has men with “glozing mouths,”’ 
and they are “singing psalms through their 


3 
b] 


Sir, if the gentleman will go to my district; 
and look upon those operatives and mechanics; 
if he will look upon some of those beautiful 
models which come from their brains and hands, 
and which from time to tixfe leap upon the wa- 
ters of the Atlantic, out-flying all other clip- 
pers, bringing home wealth and victory with all 
the winds of heaven, he might have reason to 
change his views. Lethim go there, and, even 
after all he said, he may speak to those men, 
and convince them, if he can, of their starvings 
condition. I will guaranty his personal safety. 
I believe the people of Massachusetts would. 
pour forth their heart’s blood to protect even 
him in the right of freedom of speech; aiid that 
is saying a great deal, after all that has hap- 
pened. Let him go to the great county of 
Worcester—that bee-hive of operatives and Abo- 
litionists, as it has been called—and he will find ~ 
the annual product of that county greater, in 
proportion to the population, than that of any 
other equal population in the world, as will be 
found by reference to a recent speech of ex- 
Governor Boutwell, of our State. The next 
county, I believe, in respect to the amount of 
products in proportionto population, is away 
.up in Vermont. Sir, let him go and look at 
these men—these Abolitionists, who, we are 
toldymeddle with everybody’s business but their 
own. They certainly take time enough fo at- 






Y%not? He talks about rotting on dead seas. 
(He calls our party at one time a “toad,” and 


‘[Laughter.] He mingles metaphors in such a 
eee as would delight the most extravagant 
‘Milesian. . 

But I pass from his logic and his rhetoric, 


J 































-not; she did not. 


laurels of the Cowpens. 


r. tend we Gen own Pivusiness, to accomplish these 


results which I have named. 

' The gentleman broke out in an exceedingly 
explosive question, something like this: I do 
not know if my memory cau do justice to the 
language of the gentleman, but it was some- 
thing like this: ‘Did not the South, equally 
with the North, bare her forehead to the god of 
battles?” I answer plainly, No, sir, she did 
Sir, Massachusetts furnish- 
ed more men in the Revolution than the whole 
South put together, and more by ten-fold than 
South Carolina. I am not including, of course, 
the militia—the conjectured militia furnished 
by that State. There is no proof that they were 
ever engaged in any battle. I mean the regu- 
lars; and I say that Massachusetts furnished 





more than ten times as many men as South 


Carolina. I say, on the authority of a standard 
historian, once a-member of this House, om 
Sabine, in his history of the Loyalists,) t 


more New England men now lie buried in the. 


soil of South Carolina; than there were of South 
Carolinians, who left their State to fight the 
battles of the country. I say, when General 
Lincoln was defending Charleston, he was com- 
pelled to give up its defence, because the peo- 
ple of that city would not fight. When General 
Greene, that Rhode Island blacksmith, took 
command of the Southern army, South Caro- 
lina had not a Federal soldier in the field; and 
the people of that Sta®% would not furnish sup- 


plies to his army; while the British army in 


the State were furnished with supplies almost 
exclusively from the people of South Carolina. 


While the American army could not be reeruit- 


‘ed, the ranks of the British army were rapidly 
filled from that State. 

The British post of Ninety-Six was garrison- 
ed almost exclusively from South Carolina. 
Rawdon’s reserve corps was made up almost 
entirely by South Carolinians. Of the eight 
hundred prisoners who were taken at the battle 

f King’s Mountain—of which we have heard 
s0 much—seven hundred of them were South- 
ern Tories. The Maryland men gained the 
Kentuckians, Virgin- 
ians, and North Carolinians, gained the battle 
of King’s Mountain. Few South Carolinians 
fought in the battles of Hutaw, Guilford, &c. 
They were chiefly fought by men out of South 
Carolina; and they would have won greater 
fame and brighter laurels, if they had not been 
opposed chiefly by the citizens of the soil. 
Well might the British commander boast that 
he had reduced South Carolina into allegiance. 

But, sir, I will not proceed further with this 
history, out of regard for the fame of our com- 
mon country; out of regard for the patriots— 
the Sumters, the Marions, the Rutledges, the 
Pinckneys, the Haynes—truer patriots, if pos- 
sible, than those of any other State. Out of 
regard for these men, I will not quote from a 
letter of the patriot Governor Mathews to, Gen- 
eral'Greene, in which he complains of the self- 











ishmess and utter imbecility of a great por Ke 
of the people of South Carolina. i 
But, Mr. Chairman, all these assaults upon ; 
the State of Massachusetts sink into insignifi- 
cance, compared with the one Iam about to 
mention. On the 19th of May, it was an- 
nounced that Mr. Sumner would address the 
Senate upon the Kansas question. The floor — 
of the Senate, the galleries, and avenues lead- 
ing thereto, were thronged with an expectant 
audience; and many of us left our places in 
this House, to hear the Massachusetts orator. 
To say that we were delighted with the speech 
we heard, would but faintly express the deep 
emotions of our hearts awakened by it. I need 
not speak of the classic purity of its Jangvy” 
nor of the nobility of its sentiments. it f 
heard by many; it has beén read by mill’ j 
There has been no such speech made ir a 
Senate since the days when those Titans™ © 


| American eloquence—the Websters and ¢iue 


‘Haynes—contended with each other for mas- 
tery. 

It was severe, because it was laun ~“ ~ 
against tyranny. It was severe as. Chat, ae 
was severe when he defended the feeble « * 
nies against the giant oppression of the mc’. 
country. It was made in the face of a how, 
Senate. It continued through the greater’ * j 
tion of two days; and yet, during that time.” 
speaker was not once called to order. This f 
is conclusive as to the personal and pa! 
mentary decorum of the speech. He had p; 
ocation enough. His State had been ca® 
hypocritical. He himself had been called® 
puppy,” “ fa fool,’’ ‘a fanatic,” and “a dis!” 
est man.” Yet he was parliamentary from *) 
foddaiie to the end of his speech. No rf 
knew better than he did the proprieties of sd 
place, for he had always observed them. * 
man knew better than he did parliament 
law, because he had made it the study of ® 
life. No man saw more clearly than he 4 
the flaming sword of the Constitution, turn? 
every way, guarding all the avenues of the : 

3 


+e | 


ate. But he was not thinking of these things; 
was not thinking then of the privileges of © 
Senate nor’of the guarantees of the Consti* 
tion; he was there to denounce tyranny et 
crime, and he did it. He was there to spe? 
for the rights of an empire, and he did it, bra: he 
ly and grandly. ais 
So much for the occasion of the speech. 
word, and I shall be pardoned, about the ani 
er himself. He is my friend; for many a. 
many a year I have looked to him for guida 
and light, and I never Iléoked in vain. Mis 
never had a personal enemy in his life; Eb? 
character is as pure as the snow that falls @ 
his native hills; his heart overflows with king: 
ness for every being having the upright for ll 
of man; he is a ripe scholar, a chivalric 8 et 
tleman, anid a warm-hearted, true friend. oo Fi 
sat at the feet of Channing, and drank in th 
sentiments of that noble soul. He bathed » 


















a 50% a 
the learning and undying love of the great] cially do I notice the conduct of that § ae 
jurist, Story ; and the hand of Jackson, with its| recently from the free platform of Massachu- 
onors and its offices, sought him early in life, | setts, with the odor of her hospitality on him, — 
but he shrank from them with instinctive mod-| who stood there, not only silent and quiet while | 
esty. Sir, he is the pride of Massachusetts. | it was going on, but, when it was over, approved - 
His mother Commonwealth found him adorning, the act. And worse: when he had time to cool, 
the highest walks of literature and law, and she | when he had slept on it, he went into the Sen- 
bade him go and grace somewhat the rough | ate Chamber of the United States, and shocked © 
character of political life. The people of Mas-| the sensibilities of the world by approving it. 
gachusetts—the old, and the young, and the} Another Senator did not take part because he 
middle-aged—now pay their full homage to the | feared his motives might be questioned, exhibit- 
beauty of his public and private character. | ing as extraordinary a delicacy as that individual 
Such is Coartes SUMNER. who refused torescuea drowning mortal, because 
On the 22d day of May, when the Senate and | he had not been introduced to him. [Laughter.] 
the House had clothed themselves in mourning | Another was not on good terms; and yet, if 
‘for a brother fallen in the battle of life in the| rumor be true, that Senator has declared that 
distant State of Missouri, the Senator from] himself and family are more indebted to Mr. 
Massachusetts sat in the silence of the Senate} Sumner than to any other man; yet, when he 
Chamber, engaged in the employments apper-| saw him borne bleeding by, he turned and@yvent 
taining to his office, when a member from this] on the other side. Oh, magnanimous Suey! 
House, who had taken an oath to sustain | Oh, prudent Doveras! Oh, audacious Toomss! 
Constitution, stole into the Senate, that place} Sir, there are questions arising outtf this’ 
which had higkerto been held sacred against! which far transcend those of a mere personal 
violence, and smote, him as Cain smote his] nature. Of those personal considerations I 
brothd® shall speak, when the question comes properly 
Mr. REIT, (in his seat.) That is false. before “us, if I am permitted to do so. The 
Mr. BURLINGAME. I will not bandy epi-| higher question involves the very existence of 
thets with the gentgman. Iam responsible|the Government itself. If, sir, freedom of 
for my own language. Doubtless he is respon- | speech,is not to remain to us, what is all this 
Bible for his. Government worth? If we from Massachusettg, 
Mr. KKITT. [ am. or any other State—Senators, or members 
Mr. BURLINGAME. I shall stand by mine. | the House—are to be called to account by some 


One blow was enough; but it did not satiate “gallant nephew” osome “gallant uncle,” 
Pry the wrath of that spirit which had pursued him when we utter something which does not suit 



















tet. through two days. Again and again, quicker their sensitive natures, we desire to know it. If 
m, and faster fell the leaden blows, until he was | the conflict is to be transferred from this peace- ° 
» ™ torn away from his victim, when the Senator fal, intellectual field, to one where, it is said, 
he! from Massachusetts fell in the arms of hig|“ honors are easy and responsibilities equal,” 
it friends, and his blood ran down on the Senate | then we desire to know it. Massathusetts, if 
Es floor. Sir, the act was brief, and my com-| her sons and representatives are to have the 
ti ments on it shall be brief also. I denounce it| 70d held over them, if these things are to con- 
hin the name of the Constitution it violated. I] tinue, the time may come—though she utters 
ay denounce it in the name of the sovereignty of | 20 threats—when she may be called upon to 
ae Massachusetts, which was stricken down by the| Withdraw them io her own bosom, where she 
ha blow. I denounce it in the name of civilization | can furnish to them that protection which is not 
NG which it outraged. I denounce it in the name| vouchsafed to them under the flag of their com- 
4 of humanity I denounce it in the name of that| mon country. But, while she permits us to re- 
by} fair play which bullies and prize-fighters re-| main, we shall do our duty—our whole duty. 


| spect. What! strike a man when he is pin- We shall speak whatever we choose to speak, 
2 j@ned—when he *camnét respond to #blow!| When we will, where we will, and how we will, 
. y Call you that chivalry? In what code of honor | regardless of all consequences. _ 
' did you get your authority for that? Idonot| Sir, the sons of Massachusetts are 
anh Be member has a friend sqdear who | at the knees of their mothers, i 









™— gaust nO, infBis heart of hearts, coMfemn the | of peace and good will, and, God kne 

4. act. Even the membtr himself, if he has left | desire to cultivate those ftelings—feelin 

th a spark of that chiyalry and gallanti gbtribu-|socfal kindness, and public kindness. 1 

_ ted to him, must loathe and scorn the act. God} House will bear witness that we have not vio- © 
Mie ai I dgnot wish to speak unkindly, ow, in | lated or trespassed upon any of them; but, sir, 
 @ spirit of revenge; but I owe it to my man-| if we are pushed too long and too far, there are 
"ee | hood, and the nobfe State I in part represent, | men from the old Commonwealth of Massachu- 
' to express my deep abhorrence of the act. Bn setts who will not shrink from a defence of 
much as I reprobate the act, much more do I| freedom of speech, and the honored State they 

reprobate the conduct of those who were by,|represent, on any field where they may be 
and saw the outrage perpetrated. Sir, espe- | assailed. | 


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